Tempilaq question

[Flintlock Hokie]

I'm just starting black powder cartridge loading, though I've loaded smokeless for years. I've never annealed cases and never had a problem. However, per the advice of many I'm getting ready to anneal the mouth of my new Starline brass. I bought a bottle of 750 F Tempilaq from Buffalo Arms. It arrived Saturday. What is it supposed to look like? It is not the homogeneous liquid I expected. The instructions say "Shake Well" but even after lots of shaking, it still isn't homogeneous. Is this normal?

Thanks!

[rfd]

i've used tempilaq for brass annealing and it goes on almost clear to the inside of the case mouth, but will turn color when heat is applied at the correct temperature for the correct length of time. lotsa stuff on the web about cartridge case annealing, pro and con. some feel the tempilstik works visually better.

i don't think that case annealing is a requirement for certain cartridges and loads. i use fire formed starline 45-70 and 40-65 brass and load with bp exclusively, and have never felt the need to anneal the brass, even though starline brass is about the thickest available. once the brass has been fire formed to well fit the chamber, and the head and chamber have been marked or noted for consistent load orientation of a built round, it's just deprimed, cleaned, and ready for reloading - no dies needed other than one for bp compression. after over 6 firins, i haven't yet seen an indication that annealing is required - not yet.

[kokomokid]

When I first started annealing I used Tempilaq and it dries out quickly even with bottle tightly closed. Tempilaq sells a thinner much like paint thinner to rejuvinate the dried out product.
Without Tempilaq I anneal in a VERY low light room to very first visible color now with much better results.
Think I got thinner from McMaster Carr.

[Chill Wills]

As mentioned above, you may not need to anneal for your BPCR brass but you have the Tempilaq so you might give it a try. A fellow I know used the 750F Tempilaq on some of his Starline 45-90 cases and not others as a test for case life and accuracy. He, with that batch of brass, found the annealed cases stretched unreasonably and accuracy was not good. He salvaged those cases by using them by repeated firings with light loads of smokeless and FL resizing with the die backed off a few turns.

The pic's above are 32-20 cases done in a dark(ish) room using the counting method and small flame ( small case). These were being prepped to convert to 25-20 and without the anneal I would loose a lot of cases during forming and/or in the first few firings. You can see the blue ring on the brass case.

[Kevin Rohrer]

I was talking to Croft Barker yesterday, and he said to anneal all new Starline brass as it is so hard. He said to anneal the top third of the cases and to just heat them up until they started to turn blue, then quench. Tempilaq is not needed.

[rfd]

annealing brass is not like annealing iron/steel in that nothing happens (hardening) when the subsequent hot brass is quenched cool/cold. brass is hardened by working it, which is what happens every time it's sized, expanded, and contracted (during bullet seating). it takes a specific heat range, over a specific time period, to soften the brass properly so that it still has "recovery spring". i don't see where anything is gained by under annealing. over annealing the case mouth is not a good thing and i can see where very bad things can happen when middle to head of the case gets annealed in any manner.

i often wonder how many folks are doing the brass, and perhaps their body or life, a disservice by attempting annealing without really knowing what they're doing. in that case, not annealing and checking the brass before loading and after firing might be the more prudent thing to do.